From the Frontlines of the Criminally Underappreciated: Mobius Band

Let's get mathematical. According to Wikipedia, The Mobius strip or Mobius band (alternatively written Mobius or Moebius in English) is a surface with only one side and only one boundary component. The Mobius strip has the mathematical property of being non-orientable. It is also a ruled strip. It was discovered independently by the German mathematicians August Ferdinand Mobius and Johann Benedict Listing in 1858. Wow. These appear to be words, but what could they possibly mean?

Before we proceed any further, to my loyal readers greatly concerned by this narrative turn, fear not. You are not alone. I am here with you. While this blog is most assuredly unpopular, we have no desire at present to jettison our great ambition of becoming one more music blog of limited consequence in a world rife with music blogs of limited consequence. In these early gestational weeks, we remain earnestly committed to further marginalizing and minimizing our target demographic by profiling the bands we believe matter or at the very least should matter more to you. To change the heart and minds of seven or eight friends or relatives. That is our dream. Won't you dream with us, friend and/or relative?

Nevertheless, if the length of a Wikipedia entry is any indicator of possible interest, a blog dedicated to 19th German mathematical innovations has a great deal of potential. Perhaps as our web empire inevitably expands we will begin to touch upon such matters. In other words, possess yourself in patience, gentle, undoubtedly disappointed, mathematically-inclined, foreign national reader. It is only a matter of time before this blog proves an invaluable resource to you and MathCounts competitors everywhere.

We would also like to apologize to all our German readers for the complete lack of umlauts in those introductory sentences (see: three paragraphs ago). Yes, your eyes do not deceive. I typed Mobius no less than four times and nary an umlaut was harmed (or used) in the spelling of said word. But are you really surprised? As history has repeatedly shown, there is no greater tyrant than a twenty-something American with a blog. We are the very epitome of caprice. We have little patience for the grammatical conventions of our own land, let alone the spelling practices of distant nations. What's that you say about your centuries old culture? Please. I shop at Target.

Now. Where were we? The music industry is a cruel mistress. I'm beginning to think that about the worst thing that could ever befall a band is for me to like their record. While I have little empirical data to confirm this suspicion, my unflagging support appears to be an all but certain talisman for spirit-crushing, career-derailing anonymity. Call it a working hypothesis. Mobius Band's (Peter Sax, Noam Schatz, Ben Sterling) Heaven was one of my surprise favorite records of 2007. I suppose you know where this is going. Let's just say they haven't spent the last year surfing upon an endless tide of gilded coins and opening for Kanye West. But then again I suppose this article has just hit the world wide web. Like the stimulus package, it just needs a little time.

Sure, to paraphrase 90s alt-rockers Cracker, what the world needs now is another band from Brooklyn, like I need a hole in my head, but play this record for anyone, and they will like it (well, they'll probably like it. For all I know, you maintain a particularly pugnacious assemblage of associates, a thoroughly irascible people given to contrarian posturing and polemic. These people probably don't even like you). The songs are catchy. The production is smart. Computers appear to be involved (and technology is so in this fall!). There are enough gadgets, glitches, pops and fidgets employed to keep the songs fresh and interesting with repeated spins. Seriously. Why haven't you heard this record? The album itself features three standout would be singles if rock radio was not run by a giant computer in Colorado ("Friends Like These", "Hallie" and "Tie A Tie"). Must our relationship with technology be so complicated?

And what's even better about this band? On Valentine's Day, they're actually thinking of you. Just three sensitive guys with great songs trying to making it in this world. What's not to like?Those interested in hearing more from this group are encouraged to listen to the One Man in a Small Room radio broadcast tomorrow (7/28) from 5:00 - 8:00 p.m. on WLUR 91.5 where we will take on those computers in Colorado in an undoubtedly futile but determined struggle to restore balance to the increasingly unbalanced world of radio.